Police: Man returned to crime scene to film investigation

CENTERVILLE — Police arrested a man early Wednesday morning after he allegedly returned to a home where he had just broken into two cars to film police officers investigating the break-ins.

By PATRICK CASSIDY

capecodtimes.com

By PATRICK CASSIDY

Posted Apr. 10, 2014 at 2:00 AM

By PATRICK CASSIDY

Posted Apr. 10, 2014 at 2:00 AM

» Social News

CENTERVILLE — Police arrested a man early Wednesday morning after he allegedly returned to a home where he had just broken into two cars to film police officers investigating the break-ins.

Police officers were called to 72 Five Corners Road at about 3 a.m. for a report that a motor vehicle had been broken into, Barnstable police Sgt. Sean Sweeney said.

The vehicle's owner told officers he had been awakened by noise from his driveway and saw the interior light was on in a vehicle he had just purchased. When he went outside he saw a man dressed in black leaving his driveway and found his vehicle had been broken into, according to Sweeney.

The man noticed another vehicle parked on the other side of the house had also been broken into, but nothing was taken from either vehicle, Sweeney said. The man told police he then heard car alarms going off in the neighborhood.

As police Officer Mark Palmer was waiting for a criminal investigation officer to help with identification of a suspect, a man later identified as Jon Wetherbee, 25, of 3 Nevins Lane in West Harwich, walked by the house wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and videotaping the scene with his phone, Sweeney said.

Palmer approached the man and asked him his name, which he refused to give, Sweeney said.

"'It's none of your business,'" the man said, according to a police report. "'I have a God-given right to tape you and what's going on here.'"

Palmer noticed that Wetherbee appeared extremely intoxicated and smelled of alcohol, Sweeney said.

During the conversation, another man, whom police had previously pulled over on the way to the break-ins, approached, Sweeney said, adding that Wetherbee became confrontational as officers spoke with the two men.

Officers tried to place him in protective custody, and Wetherbee hit Palmer on his neck, became combative and refused to be handcuffed, according to the report.

Once he was in custody, police found an owner's manual to a Toyota Camry, a window sticker for a Camry, a work order for a Camry from Hyannis Toyota, two receipts from the town of Barnstable for beach stickers, two pairs of women's sunglasses and assorted change and small bills totaling almost $6 on him, according to the report.

The other man told police that after they had pulled him over, he saw Wetherbee standing in front of his house and, knowing him through a neighbor, asked him what he was doing, according to the report.

The man said Wetherbee told him he was "trying to make a living breaking into cars," the report says.

The man also said Wetherbee said he wanted to film the police.

Police located the owner of the Camry whose items were found on Wetherbee, and she confirmed her car had been broken into and identified the items, according to the report.

Police charged Wetherbee with three counts of breaking and entering into a motor vehicle, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

He was arraigned in Barnstable District Court on Wednesday and is scheduled to return for a pretrial conference May 9. Wetherbee, who also was wanted on an outstanding warrant for a drunken-driving charge, was ordered held on $10,000 bail.